Perspectives on Stanley Kubrick (Perspectives on Film) [Hardcover]

Geduld (Author), Mario Falsetto (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Perspectives on Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick is the acclaimed Bronx-born, British-based director of such notable films as Paths of Glory, Spartacus, and Dr. Strangelove. Among those who have admirably analyzed his oeuvre are Michael Ciment (Kubrick, 1980. o.p.) and Thomas Allen Nelson (Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze, LJ 4/15/82). Because Kubrick has directed only Full Metal Jacket (1987) since those books were published, these new evaluations will supplement rather than supersede them. Falsetto's work contains an introduction to Kubrick's career, a complete filmography, 22 essays (one by Kubrick himself), and four interviews, including the 1968 Playboy discussion of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Academic evaluations are complemented by nuts-and-bolts articles about the groundbreaking special effects of 2001 and use of the Steadicam camera on The Shining. The only sour note is "Full Metal Jacket: The Unravelling of Patriarchy," used by its author to snipe at Margaret Thatcher and a British commission on language. Contrast this with its intelligible companion piece, Thomas Doherty's "Full Metal Genre: Kubrick's Vietnam Combat Movie." LoBrutto's book is the first full biography of its subject. Although the reclusive director did not grant him an interview, LoBrutto gained the cooperation of childhood and adult friends and associates and gathered a truly vast amount of background material from primary sources (school records, marriage certificates, letters) and secondary sources (books, obituaries, reviews). Regrettably, his editors have allowed every bit of the information LoBrutto collected to remain in the text. Although much of the detail is welcome, the needless adjectives ("masterful Hamlet"), minutiae (hour of birth of his first wife), and plot synopses that should have been in the filmography often make this tedious reading. Buy where completeness is a goal.?Kim R. Holston, American. Inst. for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, Malvern, Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 345 pages
• Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company. (July 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816119910
• ISBN-13: 978-0816119912
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,019,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely the best anthology on the master to date., May 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Perspectives on Stanley Kubrick (Perspectives on Film) (Hardcover)

After reading this compilation of texts about the late-great filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, I got the feeling I knew more than before about the master. PERSPECTIVES is filled with details about his films and about the way he worked as an artist. It is an important contribution to Kubrick studies. This anthology edited by Falsetto covers the first period (i.e. from his second film KILLER'S KISS) all the way to his (next) to last production (the incredible war flick FULL METAL JACKET). It even includes an article by Kubrick himself, as well as a piece wrote by Anthony Burgess on Kubrick's adaptation of his famous novel A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested to know more about Kubrick's work or about cinema in general. It is a must-read for any Kubrick aficionados and, as far as I know, the only serious compilation of writings about this true genius of cinema. By far one of the best book on the master to date. Let's hope that the author or the publisher will reprint it in a paperback format, so that more people will have access to it.